Hooked For Good

I Can't

Uma's POV

A few weeks have past since the National Swords and Shields Tournament, and everyone had settled back into their scholarly lifestyle. It was around mid May, and classes were starting to head into the last week and a half of instruction. No more swords and shields practices meant that Harry had a little more free time on his hands. However, his schedule had just been amplified with accelerated courses and advanced classes, so he wasn't totally stress-free. Still, we at least managed to find more time to hang out, even if majority of that time was spent studying. I was beyond thankful for these moments together. Ben's Villain Kid Proclamation made sure that any and all children must attend at least two years of secondary school. The AKs of my age and the first four kids to get to Auradon were all graduating, but most villain kids and I were stuck here for at least another year no matter what our ages. Harry was bypassing that law with his early graduation coming some time in the Summer, so I wouldn't have him around next year. To compensate for his future absence, we were taking advantage of every possible moment we could get together.

Of course, for every ounce of comfort these moments created, a double serving of nerves was dished out in my case. This is all thanks to a certain conclusion I came to at the end of the Tournament. It was ironic to say the least that literally two days after I open up to Harry about my fear of affection, I end up realizing my own...feelings for him.

Some more time later, and I still have trouble admitting to myself that...Oh Heavens why can't I just say it? Looking back, there were substantial hints that I was gradually falling for him, and that was just after the Isle. Our one date in Neverland–I could've gone to sleep, but instead I spent a midnight hour with him on the beach. Cotillion–I wanted him to ask me (though I could have done without the amnesia, thank you very much, Karma). Every time we fight only seems to bring us closer, and boy did we have a fight at that tournament. Like always, we run back to each other no matter how bad either one screws up, knowing we'd never do the other wrong out of malice and betrayal. If I could only have one part of my life be constant, I was more than happy to have him be that one thing.

So yeah, I have those feelings for Harry...and it's absolutely mortifying.

"Uma?" I was broken out of my thoughts by the very accented voice I internally lamented/fawned over. The two of us were sitting side by side in the Auradon Prep library. There were other students around studying as well, for finals were slowly approaching for the majority of us. In the midst of our studying, Harry must've asked me a question, and when I didn't respond, he caught me blankly staring at his profile...again. That was the fourth time that happened.

"Are you okay?" He asked, genuinely worried while I was mildly embarrassed, "You seem really out of it."

"Do I?" I chuckled nervously as I focussed my attention back on the textbook in front of me. I felt his eyes staring at me with concern, and I shrugged my shoulders to play it off nonchalantly, "I guess I'm just tired from school or something."

"Oh okay, we can stop then," he offered, closing his textbook and grabbing his backpack from the ground. "I can walk you back to your room so you can rest."

"No Harry, I'm fine," I quickly assured, putting a hand on his shoulder to keep him from standing up. He raised his eyebrows in question, and I felt a pang of guilt. He was the one who came to me in need of help with math, and I was behaving like a brainless ditz. I pulled my textbook between the two of us and hurriedly suggested, "Here, just read what confuses you, and I'll explain it."

He gave me an unsure look before turning his eyes to the text. His expression flashed even more confusion at whatever word problem he was eyeing. He sighed deeply, and I propped my chin up in my hand as he started reading the words monotonously, "Find the angle of..."